Preparation and Characterization of Zirconia Nanomaterial as a Molybdenum-99 Adsorbent

Abstract

The present study deals with the synthesis and characterization of ZrO 2 nanomaterial which can be used as an adsorbent for Molybdenum-99 ( 99 Mo).The adsorbent can potentially be utilized as the material for 99 Mo/ 99m Tc generator column. Using the sol-gel method, monoclinic nanocrystalline zirconia was synthesized from zirconium oxychloride in isopropyl alcohol reacted with ammonium hydroxide solution in isopropyl alcohol resulting in a white gel. The gel was subsequently refluxed for 12 hours at ~95 °C and pH at ~4 and then dried at 100 °C. The drying gel was then calcined at 600 °C for two hours. Meanwhile the orthorhombic nanocrystalline zirconia was obtained by reacting zirconium oxychloride solution with 2.5 M ammonium hydroxide solution which resulted in a white gel. The gel was then refluxed for 24 hours at ~95 °C and pH at ~11 and then dried at 100 °C. The drying gel was then calcined at 600 °C for two hours. These materials were characterized using FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). The Scherrer method is used for determination of crystallite size. The FT-IR spectra for both materials show absorption peak at 450-500 cm -1 which are attributed to Zr-O bond. The XRD pattern of monoclinic nanocrystalline form shows crystalline peaks at 2θ regions of 28.37 °, 31.65 °, 34 °, 36 ° and 50.3 ° with average crystallite size of 2.68 nm. Meanwhile, the XRD pattern of orthorhombic nanocrystalline form shows crystalline peaks at 2θ regions of 30 °, 35 °, 50 ° and 60 ° with average crystallite size of 0.98 nm. The TEM micrograph indicates that the zirconia nanomaterials prepared were quite uniform in size and shape.

Molybdenum-99 (⁹⁹Mo) Adsorption Profile of Zirconia-Based Materials for ⁹⁹Mo/^99mTc Generator Application

“…Monoclinic nanozirconia and orthorhombic nanozirconia were synthesized based on the method described in our previous works [18].…”

“…This study focused on the determination of 99 Mo adsorption capacity of some zirconia materials which have been synthesized in previous work [18], namely monoclinic nanozirconia and orthorhombic nanozirconia, as well as sulfated zirconia and phosphated zirconia whose synthesis processes are reported in this report.…”

Development of Novel Alumina by Solid-State Reaction for 99Mo/99mTc Adsorbent Material

“…This adsorption capacity is enough for 99 Mo/ 99m Tc generator production using a high specific activity 99 Mo, however it is inadequate for low specific activity 99 Mo. In order to overcome this problem, many materials with better performance than alumina have been developed, for instance, zirconium-based material (Munir et al, 2018;Saptiama et al, 2016;Saptiama et al, 2015) and several metal oxides (Chakravarty et al, 2014;Marlina et al, 2017), however, their use bring up several drawbacks.…”

Influence Of Drying Time And Temperature On Zirconium-Based Material (ZBM) Properties For 99Mo/99mTc Generator Development

“…The advantages of nonfission 99 Mo compared to fission 99 Mo are the easy handling of the waste, the low radioactivity waste, and the simple post-irradiation method. On the other hand, the drawback is the low specific activity compared to fission 99 Mo (Blaauw et al 2017;Marlina et al 2017).…”